My Dandelion
by chanachan
Summary: Neji vists his father after his match with Naruto, whilst Hinata stands and watches the person she wish she could have been.


**My Dandelion  
**By Anu-Chan

It was a calm day. The wind faintly whispered in the distance, playing with the grass, teasing the leaves. No one was able to step on that twig and snap it, and no one was around to throw small stones into that tired river and disrupt its sleep. It was decent enough to confront ghosts that, up until then, were his incoherent assumptions.

No. It was more than decent. It was _perfect_ for Hyuuga Neji.

He wasn't wearing his head protector today, for he didn't come here as a ninja. But as a young man, who had only seen the road that was in front of him, failing to notice the narrow path to his side, until someone pointed it out.

Neji came today as a son; neither overcome with anger nor disgust, but with relief leaking out of him, his newly found pride exposed across his forehead.

He kneeled down onto the grass, sinking his knees into the moist mud, and placed the dandelion in front of the headstone. "I'm sorry, Father" he softly spoke, tucking in his chin. "I'm sorry that I didn't notice… I guess my eyes couldn't see what you wanted me to."

_The small frame fell to the ground, through not with much force as he hadput effort into blocking the attack as much as he could. His small eyes darted around, before landing themselves onto something that stood out. "Father! Father, look!" Neji quickly got up, not bothering to brush away the dirt from his kimono. "Father, look!"_

_"What is it?" Hizashi asked, making his way towards his son._

_"It's a dandelion!" The young boy softly gripped the stem of the flower and forced it out from the dry mud. Hizashi shared a sympathetic smile, in honour of Neji's innocence, with him. "I heard that if you blow away all of the seeds in one go and make a wish, it'll come true! I want to try…" _

_The smile slowly backed away into the shadows. "Neji," he said, taking into account the time they had left, "put that down and finish your training. We have to get back home."_

_"Yes, Father!" he replied, sharply, obediently. But, before he threw it away, he closed his eyes for a moment and quickly blew on the dandelion. "Did it work?" he asked, gingerly opening his eyes._

_Impatience was visible in Hizashi's voice as he called out to his son once more._

_"It didn't work…"hewhispered, staring at the stubborn seeds that were left behind._

_Hizashi's stomach turned when he saw Neji's face drop, even if it only did a litte. He didn't know whether to tell him to grow up, continue training or explain that he was wrong about the idea from the start; was he meant to treat him like a to-be ninja with obedience, or like his son with compassion?_

"_Neji…" _

"_It's only a silly story," the young boy said, throwing the stem away; the remaining seeds gently fell off and danced away into the distance with the wind. "Sorry, about that, Father. Can we finish training? I want to go home soon, too."_

"_Neji…" Hizashi ruffled his son's neat hair. "What did you wish for?" his voice carried false interest, with an intention he thought best._

"_Oh. It was nothing, Father."_

"_Come on, now. What did you wish for?"_

"_Well…" Neji smiled, bearing his teeth. "I wished that we could fly away."_

_Hizashi's eyes widened in surprised. "What do you mean?"_

"_I heard you saying it to Mother before, and thought that if it came true, you'd be happy."_

_A father stood in silence, unable to look at his own son who was unaware of what was going to be placed before him in only a few more days. Instead, he walked two steps ahead of him. "Come on, Neji. Finish your training."_

Fifteen minutes had passed, and Hyuuga Neji sat in silence beside his father's grave. Within time, even the wind had left him to be alone, to which he was silently thankful for.

"I understand, Father…" he whispered. "I know why you did what you did, and I'm glad." He lifted the dandelion, closed his eyes and blew as hard as he could. "Because, now," he began, opening his eyes and smiling, "I think I can try to use my wings and be free to fly away, just like you did." He dug the stem of the seedless flower into the mud, letting it stand naked.

Wiping away his tears, Neji finally stood up. It was time to leave, but he wasn't going anywhere yet.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata dug her nails into the tree trunk that she hid behind; she did not even notice the bloody seeping out from them, trickling down her hands. Her eyelids weighed over her pale eyes as she tried her best to hold back thehot tears that were welling up in them, and her throat felt as if it was closing up, trying to deny her of life. 

In front of her was the young man she once feared, but not anymore. Instead, she saw a little boy crying for his father. For the first time, Hinata had seen Neji cry, and for the first time ever, she felt sorry for him.

"Neji-niisan…" she whispered to herself.

"_Byakugan!"_

_His hands were bleeding with the rhythm of his punches that he threw at the chipped bark. That day, Neji was determined to train harder. After seeing Lee master the _Lotus_, despite him being unable to use ninjustu and genjtsu techniques, hethought it was only natural for him to train harder. The feeling of failure ate away athisstomachas humiliation teased him._

_"Why?" he spat, angered at the thought of his team mate, who couldn't even catch up to his level of power, being able to surpass him. "Why can't I do it?"_

_To his right sat Hinata, who simply stared at him in awe, intimidation and even jealousy._

'Neji-niisan should be here instead of me…' _she reflected with thoughts full of regret and disappointment that overcame her for not being able to live up to the name of the head family._

_"Hinata!"_

_She immediately got up, startled. "Coming!" she replied, refusing to take her eyes away from her cousin. Every muscle in her body told her to stay, watch and _learn_, but she knew better than to ignore her mother._

Standing in Neji's shadow was something she was used to, even if no one noticed it. But, watching the man who had the power to bring pride to the name _Hyuuga_ crying forced her to take a dive into reality. He suffered, and she knew of it, but watching him do the one thing that she was teased for doing made it all clear.

She would have done anything to make her father proud of her, even if it meantthat she could tradeplaces with Neji; though, now she realised that it wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want to be part of the head family; she now understood how he felt.

Even Hinata had experienced the numbness of having lost the love of her father. She didn't blame him for disliking her so much.

"_Neji, you have to promise me something."_

_The young Genin looked up at his sensei with slight curiosity expressed on his face. "Promise you what?"_

_Gai frowned, quickly turning to face his other students. "Lee, Tenten, go up ahead. I need to talk to Neji." They immediately obeyed, leaving the two alone. "You have to promise me not to argue about the head family, Neji. You can't let it get in the way ofyou Chuuninexam._

_"We both know that you'll come across Hinata some time during it, but I want you to _promise _me that you won't get carried away." He stared at him for a moment, watching his student glare at his own feet and clench his fist. "Neji!" Gai's sharp tone of voice cut through his thoughts._

_"Fine," he muttered in reply._

_"Neji, do you _promise _not to let the head family get in the way of your exam? You can't let your emotions risk this for you. Promise me."_

_Lightly noting the impatience in Gai's voice, he nodded; not out of force, but agreement and appreciation. "I promise…"_

Hinata wanted him to stop crying; she wanted to give him her sleeve to wipe those tears away and thenthank him. The feeling of jealousy, slight admiration and dread had escaped from her. Wanting to match up to Neji's level wasn't important to her anymore; he was just like her, after all. They were the same.

She watched and waited a little longer, and when he stood, she forced herself to come out from hiding. "Neji-niisan…" she whispered, not moving her eyes to the side or looking above or below, but staring directly into his. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to listen…"

Neji glanced at his father's grave, expressionless. A few moments later, he finally spoke, not saying the words that he once stood by. "Let's go home, Hinata-sama."

* * *

A/N: Inspired by the fight between Neji and Naruto during the Chuunin exam and Hinata and Neji's theme. **It's beauty **:D 


End file.
